B.P.D. | Essay
Borderline Personality Disorder
BPD has become a catch-all for undiagnosed psychological symptoms. To classify the world in two, there are those more sensitive to the noise of the world (those diagnosed with BPD), and those who just get along. I am more sensitive, and I have grown to appreciate my sensitivity. BPD is my “Check-Engine” light when I know I’ve not been living right.
When we do not take special care of ourselves, all the habits of modern life crush us, and our cry for help is acting out.
This is what crushes me: social isolation (including social media), abuse of food or improper diet (especially from processed sugar, alcohol, and other drugs), the lack of exercise, the lack of nature, the lack of silence, the lack of sleep, and the lack of a routine towards a worthwhile goal. The psychiatric antidote to such behaviors and concomitant maelstroms is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
DBT helps us regulate our emotions, and helps us be mindful so we can have the tools to side-step the crushing habits of the world. Right now, the world’s habits are the exact antithesis to how I find peace: social media, high sugar foods, alcohols, sedentary desk jobs, concrete cities, and noise everywhere—on our phones, on the streets, on the TVs.
DBT gives us tools to slowly turn down the distractions we use to hide from ourselves.
Behind the noisy distractions of the world rest our true feelings, however frightening, energetic, or painful. DBT gives us tools to slowly turn down the distractions we use to hide from ourselves, and to slowly add attention to our inner workings, moods, and feelings.
It is when I fail to listen to myself and my needs, when I drown myself out with the world, that I, eventually, POP! I shun my friends, dismiss my worthy goals, and in an attempt at self-preservation, I cry out for help by self-destructing, self-harming, and wishing or acting for death.
DBT, through mindfulness and ultimately meditation,1 helps us intercept our painful feelings and detrimental habits before it’s too late. Taken seriously, DBT gives us the chance to be much better people. It gives us the chance to pave the way for the others as of yet unaffected. It is not easy, but it is essential.
Marsha Linehan, DBT's creator, suffered from what is now called Borderline Personality Disorder. Her Catholic upbringing and ultimate attainment as a Zen Master is what grounds her peace and meditation practice. Thus, Mindfulness is one of the four core modules of DBT, putting DBT in the company of other "Third Wave" therapies like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), whose techniques depend on a honed attention through mindfulness.